Posted By Mike Chambers On October 13, 2010 @ 5:49 pm In University of Denver | 4 Comments

I spoke to BC coach Jerry York this morning about the top-ranked Eagles’ series this weekend at No. 6 Denver. I’ll save most of what we talked about for Friday’s paper, but for a teaser, I’ll disclose that he was surprised at DU’s performance last weekend at Vermont (5-3 win, 1-1 tie), given all the players (nine) the Pioneers are replacing from last season.

He also said losing to the Pioneers 4-3 on Jan. 2 in the Denver Cup finale was, in hindsight, one of the things that made BC, the eventual NCAA champion, such a good team in March and April. “We lost to a better team and knew we had to improve,” York said. The Eagles led 2-0 and 3-1 in that game before the Pioneers rallied late (four third-period goals).

Some other stuff:

— BC’s three seniors, forwards Brian Gibbons and Joe Whitney and goalie John Muse, played on the 2008 NCAA title team at the Pepsi Center. At the time I remember writing about Muse becoming the latest freshman goalie to lead his team to the championship, following DU’s Peter Mannino (2005).

— DU has its all-forward brother combinations of Kyle and Shawn Ostrow and Drew and Nick Shore, but BC can beat that. The Eagles have three sets of brothers, all forwards: Cam and Tommy Atkinson, Jimmy and Kevin Hayes, Joe and Steven Whitney.

— Colorado vs. Massachusetts. DU has seven players from Colorado and BC has 12 from Massachusetts. Fifteen years ago, it would have been “DU has zero players from Colorado and BC has 12 from Massachusetts.”

— Eleven and nine. BC has 11 NHL draft picks and DU has nine (not always a good comparison, because, for what it’s worth, four of DU’s top players — forwards Kyle Ostrow and Anthony Maiani and defensemen Chris Nutini and John Ryder, plus goalie Adam Murray — went undrafted).

— BC sophomore forward Brooks Dyroff is from Boulder. He attended Niwot High School from 2004-07 before enrolling at Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Mass., where he graduated from in 2009. According to a BC release, “While at Niwot, Dyroff earned the Sean Student Leadership Award given by the state of Colorado Hockey Association to a player who demonstrates leadership on the ice and in the classroom. Dyroff is the co-founder of CEO4Teens, a non-profit organization which offers educational opportunities to teens in third-world countries; has sent 30 Indonesian students from low-income families on a year-long computer programming course at Indonesia’s Campuhan College; furthered outreach to Boston area in 2009-10, awarding scholarships to Roxbury Community College’s GED program to three individuals.”

— If it’s not obvious from the above, the head coach of my son’s peewee team, Kevin Whalen, says they don’t come any better than Dyroff. Whalen coached Dyroff with the Colorado Thunderbirds U16s.

— BC has won two of its four NCAA titles in Colorado (1949 Colorado Springs, 2008 Denver), while DU has won two of its seven national crowns in Boston (1960, 2004).

— Finally, York said in his 17 years at BC he’s never seen a kid play for his team or Boston University and end up at the rival school. Forward Vinny Saponari, who was dismissed from BU in the spring following two incidents after his sophomore year, plans on joining the Eagles next season, after sitting out this campaign. Because Saponari hasn’t yet signed with BC, York said he cannot talk about him.

Let’s play hockey!

Article printed from The Field House: http://blogs.denverpost.com/colleges